“My wife Amy and I moved to New Mexico in October of 2012,” Marash tells TVNewser, “and with all the legendary zeal of the convert, I love it out here.

“My friend Zelie interviewed me [for a KSFR program], and, afterwards, George Weston, the station’s general manager, asked me about possibly working at the station. It turned out the news directorship was open. Zelie and I talked about taking the job together as a job-share and convinced ourselves, and eventually, George and others, that this might work to everyone’s advantage.”

Marash says he also hopes to anchor a weekly interview news show. In addition, he’s excited to turn the newsroom into a “workshop” by approaching “all the local colleges and high schools about possible interns, who will trade their time and energy for training in reporting, radio writing and audio editing.”

A sixteen-year veteran of ABC’s Nightline, Marash made headlines in 2008 when he exited Al Jazeera English after expressing to management his disappointment in a lack of editorial input from its American staff.